The Sri Lanka Navy rescued a harbour pilot who fell overboard while attempting to board a merchant vessel near the entrance to the Colombo Port on Thursday, the Daily Mirror reported.
The pilot was preparing to guide an incoming merchant ship into the harbour when the incident occurred. Boarding a moving vessel from a launch by rope ladder is the routine and most hazardous part of the job.
How the rescue ran
Colombo Harbour Port Control raised an immediate alert. The Navy deployed Inshore Patrol Craft P 164, which was already patrolling near the port entrance, to carry out a search and rescue operation.
Naval personnel located the pilot in the water and brought him ashore safely at the Port Control Tower Jetty. The proximity of the patrol craft to the harbour mouth is what made the response quick — the asset was on station rather than dispatched.
The Navy said it remains on continuous alert for maritime emergencies involving vessels, seafarers and fishing communities within Sri Lanka’s Search and Rescue Region.
Context
The Navy’s search and rescue region covers a large area of the Indian Ocean and its callouts this year have ranged from commercial shipping to the fishing fleet. In August, 17 shipping containers went adrift off Colombo after falling from a merchant vessel, prompting warnings to fishermen.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not name the pilot, give his age, or say how long he was in the water. It does not identify the merchant vessel he was boarding or its flag, give the time of the incident beyond the day, or state his condition on being brought ashore — whether he needed hospital treatment at all. It does not say what caused the fall, whether sea conditions were a factor, or whether the Ports Authority or the Navy has opened an inquiry.
No other verified newsroom had filed on the rescue at the time of writing, and the incident did not appear in the Navy’s own published operational releases when checked.
